This invention relates generally to agricultural balers and a feeder mechanisms for such balers.
A conventional type of baler includes a bale case extending fore-and-aft in the direction of travel of the baler, a reciprocating plunger in the bale case, a feed table or platform extending laterally of the baler from the bale case, a pickup mechanism in front of the feed platform, and feeder means above the feed platform. The pickup mechanism lifts crop material from the ground and deposits it on the feed platform. The feeder means then conveys the crop material across the feed platform into the bale case where it is compressed into bales by the plunger.
A known type of feeder means includes fingers which sweep across the feed platform and through the bale case to feed crop material from the feed platform into the bale case. Sometimes under certain crop conditions, a problem exists in that the fingers do not evenly pack the crop material into the bale case, resulting in improperly shaped bales. For example, the fingers may not pack enough crop material into the far side of the bale case, which results in banana shaped bales.